Look through Amazon and check out the user reviews as those are usually pretty reliable. Since you're talking about a simple, plier like device with little to no moving parts, then you really shouldn't have to spend a huge amount of money to get something decent.

My concern it that the pics are on "picture trails" and the last time I organized my picture files, it realy screwed up those threads cause the pictures were not at the same location in my puter so they disapered from "picture trails".

At the time the board was updated, we could "edit" with no time limit, so over a couple of days I managed to put everything back.

But if I have to do the recovery, I'm not sure if "picture trails" will be able to "locate" the pics once I put them back in my files.

This board uses a kind of code though where it displays the pictures from another server. They should not be displayed from your own computer unless your computer is acting as a server and is permanently connected and serving the pictures. How have you been linking them in your postings? Most of us here upload them to an external site such as www.photobucket.com or the like, then copy and paste the URL to have them displayed here on the forum..

But when I reorganized the files on MY computer, it was like the site could'nt find them, or are those pictures safely stored on "picture trails", and I can do the system recovery without worrying about them?

Yeah.. PictureTrails seems to be an offsite image hosting service like Photobucket, et al. You are uploading the pictures, correct? If so, then they are now safely stored at another site, and it won't matter what happens to your computer since the site is grabbing them from the remote server. If this is the case, then you will be fine..

I haven't heard of a picture sharing site yet that calls them from your own computer and links it through their site somehow..?

It's TOTALLY free, and works very, very well. There is an advantage to using a remote virus sweep like this because the virus itself will sometimes corrupt your installed virus program to except itself! Run a complete version of the Trend Micro and see what happens.

I myself have not run ANY anti-virus software on my computer except for this for the last few years, and have not had one single problem. Set it up to run for you every morning around 2AM or so on a quick scan and you'll be golden.

I'm still massively fucked from the "windows 7 antivirus 2012" virus. It's one of those fakeware popups that says you have an infection "scanning, you are infected!" then wants you to buy it to cure what it caused. You try closing it but it pops right back up. It changed my hosts file, wouldn't let me access any windows, antivirus, or antimalware site, kept popping up websites saying I could earn money popping bubble wrap, etc. The evilest part is that even after wiping it off my system, more on this in a minute, is that it disabled Windows Security Essentials, Windows Defender, Windows Security Center, and Windows Firewall. It changed registry keys, removed the WSC reg key (even though I replaced it afterwards it still doesn't work), and cornholed me without the courtesy of a reacharound. THAT was quite rude.

I ran Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free. This is an essential tool that you should have installed and run at least once a week. It is a bitch to install after you have been compromised as most trojans / rootkits will not allow it. I had to run RKILL http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/anti-virus/rkill before sacnning to kill active fuckware processes. The link has several versions that have different filenames as some shitware won't let the RKILL.EXE file run. hey know it and fear it. After running Malwarebytes and removing fucktons of poop, I ran Hitman Pro http://www.surfright.nl/en. HMP is a second opinion scanner. It found a bunch of crap that MB missed That is astounding. I used the free version which is good for 30 days. So, the order I ran them in was RKILL > Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware > Hitman Pro. After the Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware scan, you must reboot when it tells you to. When the system has restarted, run RKILL again. Then run Hitman Pro next. Then run Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware again. You may have to do this several times. It took three rounds to finally wipe every trace froom mine.

I had to recreate my HOSTS file to eliminate redirects.

Though I successfully reinstalled Windows Security Essentials, I was unable to get the Sec Ctr working again. A quick check of Services showed the WSC service does not exist anymore! I've tried several simple and more very complex methods to reinstall the service but all have failed.

What I now face is a total wipe and full reinstall of Windows 7.

Fortunately I have an external HDD so I can backup all of my photos, locksmithing files, and massive archive of pornography

Windows Security Essentials is completely worthless. I will be buying and using a better active scanning antivirus & protection program but am not sure which one, of the many available, that I will use. I will most likely be using two programs in conjunction with each other, probably Hitman Pro with whichever AV prog I finally choose.

Fuck.

He's a mystery wrapped in a riddle, inside an enigma, painted in hot pants. - SavannahPropane ToysHow to do it wrong:

..and FF.. quit watching midget porn and you won't have these issues. Yes.. a total wipe sometimes is a good thing!

Honestly it all comes down to knowing how to be careful. Before MS Security, I ran literally NO anti-virus.. and I have never had a virus ever in my life.. and I use computers 8-10 hours daily. Never. Not once.

Don't click on things you aren't supposed to. Don't open attachments from people you don't know.. and even people that you DO know be very wary. Don't click on those popups.. just X out of the window.

Interesting Ff. Those symptoms and the programs installed are all usually caused by malware called "Win32/FakeRean" which starts installing programs like you mentioned. I'm surprised that MS Security Essentials didn't catch it. My partner had it on his machine which I recently battled with. I manually deleted the program it installed, in his case "PC Doc Pro for Windows" and then ran a scan remotely from another computer using MS Security Essentials and it cleaned up his machine beautifully.

Oh well...as the saying goes: YMMV.

JKhttp://www.mudskippercafe.comWhen I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle.Then I realized that the Lord doesn't work that way so I stole one and asked Him to forgive me

JS: I'm great at not doing the schtuff you mentioned (10yrs in IT...). Xing out wasn't an option, it was there and not a fuckin thing I could do @ that point. The really sad thing was that i didn't get it at a porn site (doesnt everyone know NNTP is much safer?)...

Midget porn? Gross. I'm into Amazons!

JK: I never had any problems with MSE before. It always blocked the crap and told me when there was a possible compromise.

He's a mystery wrapped in a riddle, inside an enigma, painted in hot pants. - SavannahPropane ToysHow to do it wrong:

I woke up to my main computer being unable to boot. The fans spin for a few seconds then it shuts down and tries to restart again - not even close to getting a loading screen.

I'm thinking the power supply is gone (I think it is an 800w corsair, 2 years old), but was wondering if anyone with more expertise has any thoughts on this.

The machine has a temperature monitor, is water cooled, has 6 case fans, and has never gotten hotter than 93 degrees F. but normally runs at 84 degees.

Savannah: I don't know what it is, but no thread here escapes alive. You'll get 1 or 2 real answers at minimum, occasionally 10 or 12, and then we flog it until it's unrecognizable and you can't get your deposit back.

The most common thing on a HD to fail is the "boot sector" which is typically the area closest to the spindle. Since the drive is accessing this over and over, it can become physically damaged. If you can't even get to your bios screen or anything, this is most likely what it is.

The good news is that if this is it, your data on the drive is most likely fine. The best thing to do is get an external HD case which you can get at any computer parts store or online.. and access it as an external drive once you get your new drive up and running. I've had to do this a few times.

Problem solved - the 12v1 line from the power supply was only supplying 11.3v so I replaced it.

But now it appears that Avast av has picked up the same virus discussed above. I thought I was running Kaspersky av on that machine, but there is no trace of it now. Currently doing a full malwarebytes scan.

Since I don't open attachments and don't click on anything suspect, I'm a bit baffled where this came from.

Savannah: I don't know what it is, but no thread here escapes alive. You'll get 1 or 2 real answers at minimum, occasionally 10 or 12, and then we flog it until it's unrecognizable and you can't get your deposit back.

EspressoDude wrote:Have a vague recollection old phone systems were 48 volts DC, but that ringers were AC. A different frequency for each ringer on a party line.

I remember seeing that stat as well, 48 volts until you picked up the line then it dropped to 6 volts? not sure though.

FOXFUR - I picked up one of those fake programs as well. I was able to go to the register and erase the files manually with the help of another computer and an internet connection. They are sneaky little bastards and will rename themselves as well.

while restoring the puter I was daydreaming of finding these little bastards and annihilating them, in very draconian ways.

anyone have experience using an inverter, like one from that cheap tool store HF, to operate solenoid valves? AC valves have higher pressure ratings than DC for the same valve body/part number. Would like to use a 1/2" or 3/4" asco or similar valve with 250 psi rating. Seems these are only made with AC coils. Same valve with DC coil may have only 50 psi rating.

Also, what happens with a valve having a minimum psi of 5 when it feeds an open burner head??